Apartheid ended in South Africa three decades ago, but Black people still struggle to enter luxury sports like hot air ballooning. Komane Harold Tjiane, 44, is in the process of breaking through that ceiling, training to become the country’s first black hot air balloon pilot. Zaheer Cassim reports from Johannesburg.
Camera: Zaheer Cassim
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At least 16 people, including three children, died when toxic gas leaked from a cylinder near Johannesburg, South African police said Wednesday. 

Search and rescue teams were still working through the area trying to ascertain the extent of the casualties. 

The incident happened in an informal settlement in the city of Boksburg on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg, the South African Police Services said. 

Emergency services spokesman William Ntladi said the deaths were caused by a leak from a gas cylinder being kept in a shack in the Angelo settlement. He said the leak had stopped and teams were searching a 100-meter radius around the cylinder to check for more casualties. 

The bodies were still lying on the ground “in and around the area,” Ntladi said, and forensic investigators and pathologists were on their way to the scene. 

“We can’t move anybody,” Ntladi said. “The bodies are still where they are on the ground.” 

Police said the three children killed were age 1, 6 and 15. Two people were taken to the hospital for treatment, police said. 

Boksburg is the city where 41 people died after a truck carrying liquefied petroleum gas got stuck under a bridge and exploded on Christmas Eve. 

Ntladi said the initial information authorities had indicated the gas in the cylinder was being used by illegal miners to process gold inside a shack. He did not identify the type of gas. 

Illegal mining is rife in the gold-rich areas around Johannesburg, where miners go into closed off and disused mines to search for leftover deposits.
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Around 15 civilians were killed Wednesday by suspected jihadis in Burkina Faso, security and local sources told AFP, sparking an exodus of people fearing further bloodshed.  

“Terrorists carried out an attack early this morning in Sorgha,” in the eastern province of Gnagna, “which cost the lives of about 15 inhabitants, including women,” a local official told AFP.  

The attack was confirmed by a resident and security sources. 

Burkina, one of the world’s poorest nations, is struggling with a jihadis insurgency that swept in from Mali in 2015, and it has seen more than 10,000 civilians, troops and police killed, according to an NGO count. 

At least 2 million people have been displaced. 

Anger within the military at the failure to roll back the insurgency sparked two coups in Burkina Faso last year. 

Four attacks by suspected jihadis in Burkina Faso killed at least 40 volunteer militiamen and 39 regular soldiers last week, the army and security sources said. 

The two deadliest clashes took place in the Centre-Nord region on June 26 and early tolls spoke of dozens dead. 

The army said on June 30 that 33 members of auxiliary force Volunteers for the Defense of the Fatherland died in the fighting at Noaka, in Sanmatenga province. 

According to an army statement, about 50 suspected jihadis also died in the clash and a large amount of military material was recovered. 
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Health organizations in Sudan’s White Nile state said at least 13 children have died over the past week due to a suspected measles outbreak. An official with the Doctors Without Borders, known by its French acronym MSF, said Sudan’s conflict and the approach of the rainy season could make the situation much worse.

Officials with the international medical organization MSF say they remain concerned about an increase of suspected measles cases among children in Sudan’s White Nile state.

Speaking to VOA via a messaging application from Nairobi, Mitchell Sangma, MSF’s health advisor, says MSF’s ground team have documented more than 200 suspected cases of measles among children in the last month.

He says out of that number, 72 were admitted to hospitals and 13 died.

“We are also seeing an increasing number of suspected measles in our other projects such as in Blue Nile state in Sudan. And in Renk, on the other side of the border in South Sudan, we are also seeing increasing measles cases in our measles isolation wards. So, the situation for people fleeing the conflict is desperately concerning,” he said.

The MSF official says the nearly three-month-old conflict in Sudan between the army and a rival paramilitary group has created a huge medical need and intense pressure on health care facilities all over the country.

Sangma says MSF and other aid agencies are concerned about the collapsing health system. He says health centers still in operation are struggling to cope with limited supplies and staff.

Sangma notes that as the rainy season draws near, there is an increased possibility of disease outbreaks among the millions of people displaced from their homes by the war.

The organization says there is a need to step up services like vaccinations, nutritional support, shelter, water and sanitation.

“Rainy season is fast approaching and we are very concerned about the rising waterborne diseases such as cholera and also to note that malaria is also very much endemic in this region. We need to scale up, we need experienced medical expertise on the ground,” said Sangma.

VOA reached out to Mustafa Jabrallah Ahmed, director general at the Ministry of Health in Blue Nile for this story, but he declined to comment, saying he was busy with meetings.

More than 2.8 million people have been displaced due to the Sudan conflict, including over 2.2 million internally, according to a report released by the International Organization for Migration this week.

The violence makes it difficult for people to access health care, with many getting treatment late as it is too dangerous to travel to health facilities.
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JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN — South Sudan’s leader, Salva Kiir, on Tuesday pledged that delayed elections set for next year would go ahead as planned and that he would run for president.  

Kiir, a towering guerrilla commander, has been the nation’s only president since he led it to independence from Sudan in 2011.  

The world’s youngest nation has lurched from crisis to crisis during Kiir’s tenure and is held together by a fragile unity government of Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar.  

A transition period was meant to conclude with elections in February 2023, but the government has so far failed to meet key provisions of the agreement, including drafting a constitution. 

“I welcome the endorsement to run for presidency in 2024,” Kiir told supporters of his governing Sudan People’s Liberation Movement party, describing it as a “historic event.” 

“We are committed to implement the chapters in the revitalized peace agreement as stated, and the election will take place in 2024.”  

No other candidate has declared their candidacy, but historical foe Machar is expected to run.  

In August, the two leaders extended their transitional government by two years beyond the agreed deadline, citing the need to address challenges that impeded the implementation of the peace agreement.  

Kiir said on Tuesday that those challenges would be addressed “before the elections” set for December next year.  

One of the poorest countries on the planet despite large oil reserves, South Sudan has spent almost half of its life as a nation at war.  

Almost 400,000 people died in a five-year civil war before Kiir and Machar signed a peace deal in 2018 and formed the unity government. 

Since then, the country has battled flooding, hunger, violence and political bickering as the promises of the peace agreement have failed to materialize. 

The United Nations has repeatedly criticized South Sudan’s leadership for its role in stoking violence, cracking down on political freedoms and plundering public coffers. 

The U.N. envoy to South Sudan, Nicholas Haysom, warned in March the country faced a “make or break” year in 2023, and its leaders must implement the peace agreement to hold “inclusive and credible” elections next year.  

Haysom stressed Juba had “stated clearly that there would be no more extensions of the timelines” for elections at the end of 2024. 
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As the African Union Transition in Somalia force, known as ATMIS, reduces troop numbers, a Somali official is warning the plan is ill-conceived and raises the risk of al-Shabab militants retaking areas they lost.

The deputy president of Jubaland, a region where Kenyan and Ethiopian troops operate, told VOA Somali that it will be “difficult” for Somali forces to secure areas being vacated by the AU troops.

“There is going to be a danger from there,” Mohamud Sayid Aden said Tuesday. “The enemy is going to get [an] advantage. The civilians who relied on the Somali and ATMIS forces will face revenge [from al-Shabab militants].” 

The AU peacekeeping mission in Somalia has completed handing over six military bases to Somali forces last week. A seventh base was closed down.

The AU wants to gradually reduce the number of troops until December of 2024, when the mission concludes. 

The drawdown of the 2,000 soldiers, 400 from each of the five troop-contributing countries – Burundi, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda – will bring the size of the force down to 16,586. 

The AU has agreed with the Somali government to pull out another 3,000 troops by the end of September.  

“It’s a plan not well-thought out, it’s hasty,” Aden said. 

Aden called for the drawdown to be “paused and reviewed.” 

But other Somali officials disagreed. Yasin Abdullahi Mohamud, known as Farey, is a member of the parliament, and the former director of the National Intelligence and Security Agency. He is currently among the officials mobilizing local forces against al-Shabab. 

He said Somalis are grateful to the AU forces but the decision for the drawdown is not a hasty move.

“It’s the right time for the forces to leave,” he said. “It’s essential the national armed forces takeover responsibility of the security.” 

Mohamud said ATMIS forces were not largely involved in the military operations against al-Shabab within the last year, and he asserted the time has come for Somali forces to step up. 

The AU troop drawdown is coming at a time when the federal government is preparing to resume military operations against al-Shabab that were interrupted by rains and deadly militant attacks.  

The Somali government is also preparing a second phase of operations dubbed the “Black Lion.” Troops from Somalia’s neighbors Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya are slated to participate. 

An AU official who requested anonymity told VOA Somali that he doesn’t expect all 2,000 of the troops being withdrawn to be unavailable to Somalia. He said troops from Ethiopia and Uganda could continue to support the Somali National Army in fighting against al-Shabab on a bilateral basis – that is, not affiliated with ATMIS. 

The drawdown also coincided with increased al-Shabab attacks in Somalia and in the neighboring Kenya. In late May, al-Shabab carried out deadly attacks on AU and Somali forces in the towns of Bulo Marer and Masagaway, killing dozens of soldiers.  

Additionally, al-Shabab also increased attacks in Kenya in recent weeks. As many as 15 attacks have been recorded in the coastal Lamu and Northeastern regions, some of which killed soldiers and civilians. 

Somali officials contend the group’s strategy is to protect the corridor between Somalia and Kenya, which its militias use to carry out attacks on either side of the border.  

Some officials, including Aden, say al-Shabab attacks in Kenya are an indication the group wants to continue fighting inside Kenya if defeated in Somalia. 

“Yes, they could continue the war in Kenya if they are destroyed in Somalia,” he said.  

“They will move to the [Boni] forest, the wetland along the coast on either side of the border. They want to keep hiding there and try to make a comeback, and attack areas seized from them, and to carry out ambushes and violence.” 

Al-Shabab, an Islamist radical group, has been fighting for control of Somalia since 2007.

Kenya lawmaker Bashir Abdullahi who represents Mandera, a county that has seen increased al-Shabab activities, agrees the recent attacks can be attributed to the pressure the group faces inside Somalia from local fighters and the Somali government. 

“They are sort of looking for an escape route or where to hide, and the place which is bordering happens to be Northeastern Kenya,” he said. 

Abdullahi expects even more attacks if Kenya troops participate in the next phase of military operations as expected. 

“Certainly al-Shabab will still retaliate,” he said. “They did that even before by virtue of us, Kenya, being part of AMISOM, so we believe this could also be the same.” 

Abdullahi rejects the assessment al-Shabab is so entrenched in Kenya that it can continue fighting there if they are defeated in Somalia. 

“Of course, there is that possibility of saying if they are removed or the heat is so much on them inside Somalia, them coming toward Kenya, that is a possibility,” he said. 

“But them being entrenched just like they do in Somalia, I don’t think that can happen…there is no way they can operate further.”
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After years of speculation, Senegalese President Macky Sall shocked the nation Monday night when he announced he would not seek a third term in office. The decision is a win for democracy in West Africa where countries have gravitated toward authoritarianism in recent years.

Speaking in a televised address from the presidential palace in Dakar, Sall said he knew his decision would come as a surprise. 

“Senegal is bigger than me and it is full of leaders who are also capable of pushing the country towards development,” he said. “I have a code of honor and a sense of historical responsibility that commands me to preserve my dignity and my word.”

Since taking office in 2012, Sall has stymied press freedom, cracked down on peaceful protests and jailed political rivals. 

Moumoudou Samb, a driver of Senegal’s clando cars, or informal taxis, said it was refreshing to see an African leader willingly step down from office. 

“I’m impressed by his graceful exit, but it’s too late – too many people have needlessly died,” said Samb. “But at least he’s ending his reign on a high note.”

Sall’s main opponent, Ousmane Sonko, spent the last two years on trial on a rape accusation – charges his supporters say were fabricated to prevent him from running in the February 2024 election.

In March 2021, Sonko’s arrest ignited violence that led to the deaths of 14 people.

In early June Sonko was acquitted of the rape charge but was instead sentenced to two years in prison for “corrupting youth,” making him ineligible to run. The unrest that followed led to the deaths of 28 people, according to Amnesty International. 

Protesters expressed anger not just over the ruling but over Sall’s repeated refusal to state whether he would run for a third term. 

Senegalese presidents are entitled to two terms, however in 2016 Sall made a constitutional revision to term lengths that many feared he would use to justify a third run. During his candidacy, Sall vowed not to seek a third mandate but has recently been vague about whether his stance had changed. 

“I applaud his decision to honor his commitment,” said Elene Tine, a member of the opposition and a former deputy with Senegal’s national assembly. “The president has set the bar very high to show the entire world that Senegal intends to remain an exemplar of democracy.”

Senegal had been widely considered as an outlier in West Africa, which has seen a decline in democracies and a rise in coups in recent years.

But Senegal’s positive reputation began to slip during Sall’s time in office. 

“It’s a relief. It’s a bomb that’s been deactivated,” said Alioune Tine, founder of the Dakar-based think tank AfrikaJom Center and the former Amnesty International director for west and central Africa. “I think the whole region was indeed waiting for Senegal to really light up the road to democracy in Africa.”

Though a sense of relief and calm has blanketed the country, citizens now await the fate of Sonko, who has been blockaded inside his home by government security forces since the June 1 verdict, awaiting arrest.
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In Kenya’s capital, a radio station has reached a loyal audience by broadcasting in a so-called street language. ‘Sheng’ is a dialect that draws from English, Swahili and other established languages. Victoria Amunga reports from Nairobi. Camera: Jimmy Makhulo
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Fierce battles broke out on Tuesday across Omdurman, the western part of Sudan’s wider capital, as the army tried cut off supply routes used by its paramilitary rivals to bring reinforcements into the city.

The army launched air strikes and heavy artillery, and there were ground battles in several parts of Omdurman, witnesses said. The RSF said it had shot down a fighter jet, and residents posted footage that appeared to show pilots ejecting from a plane. There was no immediate comment from the army.

Conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on April 15, bringing daily clashes to the capital, triggering ethnically-motivated killings in the western region of Darfur, and threatening to drag Sudan into a protracted civil war.

The RSF quickly took control of swathes of the capital and has brought in extra fighters from Darfur and Kordofan as the conflict has deepened, transferring them across bridges from Omdurman to Bahri and Khartoum, the other two cities that make up the wider capital across the confluence of the River Nile.

Residents said Tuesday’s clashes in Omdurman were the heaviest for weeks, and that as the army tried to gain ground it was also fending off an RSF attack against a police base. 

“There’s been very heavy bombardment for hours, air strikes, artillery and bullets. It’s the first time for us that there have been continuous strikes at this level from every direction,” said Manahel Abbas, a 33-year-old resident of Omdurman’s Al-Thawra neighborhood. 

The conflict broke out amid disputes over an internationally-backed plan for a transition towards civilian rule, four years after the overthrow of long-ruling autocrat Omar al-Bashir during a popular uprising.

Saudi Arabia and the United States brokered several ceasefire deals at talks in Jeddah that were suspended last month after both sides violated the truces.

In a move that could escalate conflict in western Sudan, tribal leaders from South Darfur on Monday declared their allegiance to the RSF. The RSF originated in the Arab militias that helped crush a rebellion in Darfur after 2003, before developing into a national and officially recognized force.

Nearly 2.8 million people have been displaced since the start of the fighting in mid-April, including almost 650,000 who have crossed into neighboring countries, according to the latest U.N. figures.
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has praised Senegal President Macky Sall’s announcement that he would not seek a third term in next year’s election. 

President Sall announced his decision in a nationally televised speech, ending weeks of speculation that raised the possibility of political uncertainty in the West African nation.   

“Senegal is more than just me,” Sall said in Monday’s speech, “it’s full of people capable of taking Senegal to the next level.”   

In a statement Blinken said, “We believe that free and fair elections and transitions of power yield stronger institutions and more stable and prosperous countries. President Sall’s clear statement sets an example for the region, in contrast to those who seek to erode respect for democratic principles, including term limits.”  

Sall was first elected in 2012, defeating incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade who was seeking a third term of his own. Sall was re-elected in 2019 under a revised constitution that limited a president to two five-year terms – but his supporters have argued that Sall could seek a third term because he was elected under the previous constitution. 

Speculation that Sall could run again in 2024 set off nationwide protests last month between security forces and supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko in which 16 people were killed after Sonko was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison on sexual assault charges.   

The rumors also threatened to tarnish Senegal’s reputation as a beacon of democracy and political stability in the turbulent West African region, which has seen leaders ignore constitutionally mandated term limits to retain power. 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse.  
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A South African investigative journalism organization on Monday won a legal battle against a powerful businessman in a case that tested the country’s media freedom. 

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism had earlier been barred from using documents acquired from a source in its reporting on controversial businessman Zunaid Moti, who claimed they were stolen.

But High Court Judge Roland Sutherland on Monday set aside that order, describing it as “an abuse of the process of court.”  

The organization had been running an in-depth investigation into the tycoon, who was accused of unscrupulous business dealings, including with President Emmerson Mnangagwa of neighboring Zimbabwe.  

In a series of articles, amaBhungane exposed how Moti allegedly used his ties with Zimbabwe’s political elite to secure lucrative mining contracts.  

“A key dimension of effective investigative journalism is receiving information from sources that wish to remain anonymous,” wrote Sutherland.  

The judge stressed that “within limits … the law acknowledges the propriety of protecting sources from being unmasked.”  

A large part of the case, heard last week, focused on distinguishing between freedom of the press and protection of privacy.  

“We are delighted at this resounding vindication of investigative journalism and amaBhungane’s role of pursuing it with integrity and in the public interest,” its editor-in-chief Sam Sole told AFP.  

In a recent interview with AFP, Sole pointed to the financial strain the center, which relies on donations, faced in mounting a defense against someone with deep pockets.  

The amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism is a nonprofit — funded by the public and NGOs — which specializes in delving into political corruption.   

The center, which has 13 journalists, draws its name from the Zulu word for dung beetle — a diligent species that fulfills a crucial role.  

Last month, the charity was stunned when another high court judge ordered it to stop publishing further reports into Moti and to hand over documents used for the investigation.  

The Moti Group is a conglomerate with a large international portfolio including property development, mining and aviation.  

It said in a statement it was considering appealing the judgment at the Constitutional Court because it “firmly believes that a factual finding was not made on amaBhungane’s possession of stolen documents.”  

“While I sincerely appreciate and support the freedom of the press, I do not believe that this can come at the expense of any person or entity’s constitutional right to privacy,” said the company’s CEO and South Africa’s former treasury boss, Dondo Mogajane.  

The court also ordered the Moti group to pay amaBhungane’s legal fees. 
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Senegal President Macky Sall will not run for reelection in the 2024 elections, he said in a speech on Monday, ending widespread speculation that he would seek a third term, which his critics said would have been illegal.

Rumors that Sall would try to extend his stay in power have fueled bouts of deadly unrest since 2021 in which dozens have been killed, and shaken Senegal’s reputation as a bastion of stable democracy in West Africa.

“The 2019 term was my second and last term,” Sall said in a televised speech. “I have deep respect for the Senegalese people.”

The most recent unrest was sparked last month by the sentencing of popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko to two years in jail on charges stemming from an alleged rape — accusations that he denies and says were politically motivated to stop him from running in the elections.

Sonko called for his supporters to be ready to take to the streets if the president announced a plan to run again.
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Officials in Cameroon say plastic bag pollution in the country has doubled in the past four years to 600,000 tons, harming the environment and animal and human health. The central African country in 2012 banned the production, sale, and use of non-biodegradable plastic bags, but huge quantities are smuggled in from neighboring Nigeria.

A woman using a bullhorn tells civilians at Mfoundi market in Yaounde that plastic bags constitute a serious menace to the environment.

She said diseases and floods will decrease when civilians return to the old practice of packaging and storing food in plantain, banana and other plant leaves.

Cameron’s ministries of trade and the environment say caravans were dispatched to markets in the central African state as part of activities marking International Plastic Bag Free Day celebrated annually on July 3.

Florence Tumasang is a doctor with the Cameroon Baptist Convention’s health services agency.

She said plant leaves are biodegradable, and enriched with antioxidants, whereas plastic bags are dangerous to health and the environment.

“I don’t know how we are going to stop our people from tying hot food in plastic bags because the heat helps those plastic bags produce biotoxins. These biotoxins infiltrate our food and they are cancerogenous. We have to go back to using leaves which are natural to tie our hot food,” said Tumasang.

Many people in Cameroon use paper bags as well, but some argue that paper bags are not as good at conserving cooked food.

In 2012, Cameroon banned the use of non-biodegradable plastic packaging on the grounds they clog waterways, spoil the landscape, and take a thousand years to break down. When they do degrade, they break into particles that pollute the soil and water.

After dropping for several years, non-biodegradable plastic bag pollution has doubled since 2019 to 600,000 tons per year, according to the government.

Abel Foncha Ghogomu is the highest government trade official in Cameroon’s Northwest region. He said it is not easy to stop what he calls the huge quantities of plastic bags illegally smuggled from Nigeria on a daily basis.

“We actually have not been able to stop the plastics from entering from the neighboring countries. The porous nature of the region has been the problem we are facing,” said Ghogomu.

Millions of additional bags are produced illegally each year in Cameroon.

Civilians using the bags say the government did not start producing other types of biodegradable food packaging materials in partnership with private companies as it had promised.

The government acknowledges the packaging materials it is producing do not meet national needs yet and is encouraging civilians to use leaves.

International Plastic Bag Free Day is marked on July 3 every year to increase awareness of the damaging effects that single-use plastic bags cause on the environment.
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Diamond industry experts are hailing the signing of a 10-year diamond sales agreement between the De Beers Group and Botswana, Africa’s largest diamond producer.  Under the deal, Botswana will progress from receiving 30% to half of all diamonds that De Beers mines in the southern African country. 

The deal was signed at the 11th hour following tense negotiations, as Botswana pushed for an increased allocation of rough diamonds from the 54-year-old partnership.   

The signing of a new agreement on Saturday has been welcomed by industry experts. 

Edward Asscher, the World Diamond Council immediate past president, told VOA the deal will ease anxiety within the diamond industry. 

“First of all, that is a guarantee of stable supply of rough diamonds and we have all been waiting for this. Don’t forget that De Beers is the leader in the rough diamond industry, but it also provides stability in the market and it’s the only company in the diamond industry that is investing in the growth and marketing of natural polished diamonds,” said Asscher.  

Belgium-based researcher on diamond mining Hans Merket said the new deal gives Botswana a greater chance to enjoy the proceeds of diamond mining.  

“The current deal builds on the achievements of the past to now expand Botswana’s own room of maneuver in generating lasting benefits from the exploitation of its natural resources. The potential is definitely there but it remains to be seen how all this plays out,” Merket said.   

He, however said while there is need for transparency from the two parties on the deal, a concern recently raised by some legislators in Botswana’s National Assembly.        

“What has been released so far (about the deal), there are many unknowns and conditionality. The past few years have shown that ill-informed public debates can breed mistrust between the two parties, or between the company and public at large. So, it will be important to invest in transparency and awareness raising to avoid this. The ideal way to achieve this will be to join the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative.”      

The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative is a global standard aimed at ensuring the good governance of oil and mineral resources.     

Meanwhile, De Beers chief executive Al Cook, speaking during the signing of the agreement in Gaborone Saturday, said the company is excited to continue its partnership with Botswana. 

“We at De Beers will never forget that it is a privilege to be the partners of the government of this great country. It is a privilege, it is not a right. We will always remember that it is a privilege.”               

In recent years, Botswana has received about $5 billion per year from De Beers. 

During negotiations, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi repeatedly indicated his country was prepared to walk away from negotiations if a more favorable deal were not reached. 

Minerals Minister Lefhoko Moagi said the new deal represents the aspirations of the people of Botswana. 

“I am very happy today that we are here and it is all to do with people. Everything else comes second. It is about our people and it will continue to be about our people. We will continue to do that for the betterment of the people of Botswana and all our partners,” Moagi said.

Botswana sells its allocation of the rough stones from De Beers through state entity, the Okavango Diamond Company. 

The two parties also agreed to extend the mining licenses by 25 years. The licenses will now run until 2054.  
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Doctors Without Borders said Sunday that there is a suspected outbreak of measles in an internal displacement camp in Sudan.

The international humanitarian organization said 13 children have died recently in the suspected outbreak at the camp in Sudan’s White Nile state.

“We are receiving sick children with suspected measles every day, most with complications,” the organization posted in a tweet.

A steady stream of people is coming to the camp as they flee the fighting between the country’s two warring factions.

Doctors Without Borders has two clinics in White Nile. The organization says it had over 3,000 patients in June and needs to “increase assistance, scale up services like vaccinations, nutritional support, shelter, water and sanitation.”
…

Bill Flower realized 30 years ago that cricket wouldn’t survive, let alone bloom, in Zimbabwe unless it reached out to the country’s Black majority and found a place in their hearts. 

Part of his plan finally came together two weeks ago when the Takashinga Cricket Club, set in one of the country’s oldest Black townships, hosted an international game for the first time. 

The spiritual home of Black cricket in Zimbabwe, where players looked after the pitch and planted the grass themselves in its early days, finally became a fully fledged international venue when West Indies beat the United States in a Cricket World Cup qualifying game on June 18. 

It was a landmark match in which Takashinga lived up to its name, which means “We persevered” in the local Shona language. 

“It’s absolutely fantastic and I know that my father would be very proud to witness it, and I’m certainly proud,” said Bill Flower’s son, Andy, the former Zimbabwe captain and Ashes-winning coach with England whose resume includes once being a Takashinga player himself. 

Zimbabwe will qualify for the World Cup in India later this year if it beats Scotland on Tuesday in the qualifying tournament it is hosting. That makes Takashinga’s emergence as an international ground even more special, even if Zimbabwe, a regular participant at the World Cup, didn’t play there during the qualifiers. 

An opportunity to build

Bill Flower started in the early 1990s, digging deep into his own pockets to coach Black kids from Harare’s Highfield township where Takashinga is. Then, there were hardly any cricket facilities in Highfield and families couldn’t afford to send their children to Harare Sports Club to practice. Bill Flower used his reputation as a respected coach, and his own car, to take them to the prestigious club. 

In Highfield, he discovered talents like Tatenda Taibu, who was nine when he joined Flower’s coaching squad. Taibu went on to become a Zimbabwe test captain. 

Bill Flower also found there was potential in Highfield beyond players. A small group had just started Takashinga Cricket Club and it was an obvious opportunity to build something bigger. 

Andy Flower, then Zimbabwe’s best player, took his father’s lead in identifying Highfield as crucial for cricket in the southern African nation, which was under white minority rule until 1980 and struggled with racial tensions for years after. A big-name white player, he decided to join the relatively unknown Takashinga team. 

“I knew how committed they were in building their club,” Andy Flower said. “I thought it was helpful to have some of my experience, go there and work with them at training, during games, talk to them in the dressing room.” 

“I thought it was something that would help to accelerate their development. I thought the bonus would be the mixing of Black and white. That was a special time in my life.” 

Takashinga has produced more and more players, including five national team captains so far. Stephen Mangongo, one of the club’s founding members, became Zimbabwe coach. 

“Takashinga subconsciously spread self-belief among the generality of Blacks to take cricket seriously countrywide,” said Mangongo. 

But the transformation wouldn’t be complete until cricket was played at the highest level in Highfield. 

The fixture list didn’t quite work out. It wasn’t Zimbabwe, which has five players in the current team with Takashinga connections, that played on the ground’s international debut. But West Indies was a good second-choice, a team that has won two World Cups and advanced Black cricket internationally more than any other. 

“I’m so excited to finally watch them live. I hope to watch more big games here,” said Sakina, an 8-year-old Black girl from Highfield who was at Takashinga for that landmark West Indies-U.S. game and rooting for West Indies, which won by 39 runs but later failed to qualify for the World Cup. 

Sakina’s school is a couple of streets from Takashinga and she plays cricket at an academy set up by Elton Chigumbura, one of the former Zimbabwe captains who played for Takashinga. 

“My dad’s passion is football, but I love cricket more,” she added. “One day I want to play for Zimbabwe and play many games here at Takashinga.” 

Club appeals to young, old

While Sakina is a perfect example of Takashinga’s ability to influence young lives, the club struck chords across all generations. 

Now 50, Highfield resident Nathaniel Mavima knew nothing about cricket until the club started gaining recognition in the early 2000s. 

“I’ve been a big fan for 20 years,” Mavima said. “Over the years, this ground has become more of a community center.” 

Hamilton Masakadza, another Takashinga success story who played for Zimbabwe for 18 years, said it was “bittersweet” that he missed his old ground’s international debut because of his current work as Zimbabwe’s director of cricket. 

But he remembered the day it was officially opened in 2003 by West Indies great Brian Lara, whose team was on tour and using Takashinga as a practice venue. A plaque recognizing the moment one of the best players to pick up a cricket bat opened the ground still hangs in Takashinga’s club house. 

It took another two decades to host international cricket and Trevor Garwe was never going to miss the moment. A former Takashinga bowler who played one game for Zimbabwe in 2009, he was back at his old club working as a venue manager for the World Cup qualifying tournament. 

He said that first game was for the kids of Highfield who still can’t afford to watch the sport they love at other stadiums. 

“Takashinga has brought it home,” Garwe said. 
…

A standoff between South Africa’s Women’s World Cup squad and the national soccer association over pay and other issues forced officials to field a makeshift team of little-known players that included a 13-year-old for a game against Botswana on Sunday.

The game was supposed to be the final warm-up match for the African women’s champion on home soil before it headed off to the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, but it turned into an embarrassment on and off the field as the entire World Cup squad sat out the game.

South Africa’s team of replacement players hastily pulled together from local clubs lost 5-0 to Botswana at the Tsakane Stadium near Johannesburg. They were 4-0 down at halftime in a game that was delayed for an hour at the request of the South African Football Association, SAFA, so it could scramble and put together a team.

South Africa coach Desiree Ellis said one of the players she had to draft in was aged 13. In a post-match interview, she didn’t comment on the problems.

The World Cup players only arrived at the match at halftime, when they emerged to watch from the stands.

SAFA also didn’t immediately comment on what sparked the standoff, but Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe, the president of the South African Football Players Union, which represents the interests of soccer players, said the incident was partly caused by poor pay for the players.

“They are fighting for their rights,” Gaoshubelwe said of the South African players in a video posted on his union’s official Twitter account. “SAFA doesn’t want to include money in their contracts. We must fight for the rights of these players.”

Gaoshubelwe, who was standing next to some of the players outside the team hotel in the video, said their complaints had been “dismissed” by SAFA. He was also seen in discussions with the players and accompanied them to the stadium when they turned up at halftime.

Gaoshubelwe claimed SAFA president Danny Jordaan was to blame for the standoff.

South Africa Sports Minister Zizi Kodwa said in a statement he would be meeting with the players’ union on Tuesday “to hear the serious concerns expressed by the team.”

The meeting would be about the players’ “welfare” and issues related to their contracts, Kodwa said.

The squad is due to fly to New Zealand in two groups on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation reported that players were also annoyed that their farewell game before the World Cup was held at the Tsakane Stadium, which holds just 5,000 people and is not a high-profile soccer venue.

The players viewed that as a mark of disrespect for them from their national soccer association, the SABC reported.

SABC and other television networks broadcast images of the World Cup squad members standing around outside their team bus at a hotel shortly before the game was due to kick off. SAFA CEO Lydia Monyepao was seen speaking with the players.

South Africa won the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations last year for its first major title, yet the players have often complained that they aren’t given the recognition or benefits that the men’s team gets.

South Africa is due to play Costa Rica in New Zealand on July 15 in its final World Cup warm-up game. South Africa plays Sweden, Argentina and Italy in the group stage at the World Cup, starting against the Swedes on July 23.
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Following an outbreak of anthrax disease in the West African nation of Ghana, Nigerian authorities have urged citizens to halt consumption of cooked animal hides, a delicacy also known as “pomo” in the country. Gibson Emeka has this story from Abuja, Nigeria, narrated by Salem Solomon.
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Clashes between Sudan’s army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensified on Sunday, as the war in the country’s capital and western regions entered its 12th week with no attempts in sight to bring a peaceful end to the conflict.

Air and artillery strikes as well as small arms fire could be heard, particularly in the city of Omdurman, as well as in the capital Khartoum, as the conflict deepens a humanitarian crisis and threatens to draw in other regional interests.

The RSF said it brought down an army warplane and a drone in Bahri, in statements to which the army did not immediately respond.

“We’re terrified, every day the strikes are getting worse,” 25-year-old Nahid Salah, living in northern Omdurman, said by phone to Reuters.

The RSF has dominated the capital on the ground and has been accused of looting and occupying houses, while the army has focused on air and artillery strikes.

Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan last week called on young men to join the fight against the RSF and on Sunday the army posted photos it said were of new recruits.

The Sudanese Doctors Union accused the RSF on Saturday of raiding the Shuhada hospital, one of the few still operating in the country, and killing a staff member. The RSF denied the accusation.

The war has also hit cities in the western Kordofan and Darfur regions, in particular the westernmost city of El Geneina, where the RSF and Arab militias have been accused of ethnic cleansing.

The Combating Violence Against Women Unit, a government agency, said on Saturday it had recorded 88 cases of sexual assault, which it said was a fraction of the likely real total, in Khartoum, El Geneina, and Nyala, capital of South Darfur, with victims in most cases accusing the RSF.

Talks hosted in Jeddah and sponsored by the United States and Saudi Arabia were suspended last month, while a mediation attempt by East African countries was criticized by the army as it accused Kenya of bias.

Last week, army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy on the country’s Sovereign Council Malik Agar expressed openness to any mediation attempts by Turkey or Russia, though no official efforts have been announced.

 
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South Africa’s electricity minister said on Sunday the country was closer to ending daily power cuts as warmer weather returns towards the end of the year, but declined to give a specific date.

South Africa is on course to see its most blackout days in history this year with daily power cuts extending to almost 10 hours a day, affecting businesses and households in an economy already hobbled by high interest rates and inflation.

The power cuts, called loadshedding locally, is expected to shave off 2 percentage points from GDP this year, the central bank said last month.

Blackouts have eased in the past few weeks but there is a fear that as the southern hemisphere winter takes deeper hold in July and August, higher heating demand could trip many power plants. By September, the temperature starts to climb once more.

“I know when we get into summer conditions, then at the current rate, generation will far exceed demand,” Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said in a news conference.

Due to interventions on system maintenance and availability and efforts from businesses and households, the worst case scenario of peak winter demand of 34,000 megawatts (MW) has not materialized, he said.

The capacity available is plateauing around 29,000 MW, giving enough room to bring the power cuts down to Stage 3, where 3,000 MW are taken off the grid, leading to between two and four hours of daily power cuts, the minister added.

South Africa implements power cuts in stages from one to eight with eight being the highest and translating into over 10 hours of daily power cuts.

Ramokgopa said the country was reaching a stage where power generation was beginning to keep up with demand, with blackouts coming down from Stage 6 to Stage 3 in the space of six weeks.

South Africa could soon have no blackouts for 24 hours, he said.

“I want to say to the South African people we are much, much closer to that date,” he said.
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NAIROBI, Kenya — Nowhere in the world has a higher rate of unsafe abortions or unintended pregnancies than sub-Saharan Africa, where women often face scorn for becoming pregnant before marriage.

Efforts to legalize and make abortions safer in Africa were shaken when the U.S. Supreme Court ended the national right to an abortion a year ago. Within days, Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio declared that his government would decriminalize abortion “at a time when sexual and reproductive health rights for women are being either overturned or threatened.”

But some U.S.-based organizations active in Africa were emboldened, especially in largely Christian countries. One is Family Watch International, a nonprofit Christian conservative organization whose anti-LGBTQ+ stance, anti-abortion activities and “intense focus on Africa” led to its designation as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In April, Family Watch International helped to develop a “family values and sovereignty” meeting at Uganda’s presidential offices with lawmakers and other delegates from more than 20 African countries. The organization’s Africa director also is advocating for his country, Ethiopia, to revoke a 2005 law that expanded abortion access and dramatically reduced maternal mortality.

“It’s kind of like the gloves are off,” Sarah Shaw, head of advocacy at U.K.-based MSI Reproductive Choices, an international provider of reproductive health services, said in an interview.

In a September speech to the African Bar Association, the president of Family Watch International, Sharon Slater, alleged that donor countries were attempting a “sexual social recolonization of Africa” by smuggling in legal abortion along with sex education and LGBTQ+ rights.

“Sexual rights activists know if they can capture the hearts and minds of Africa’s children and indoctrinate and sexualize them, they will capture the future lawyers, teachers, judges, politicians, presidents, vice presidents and more, and thus they will capture the very heart of Africa,” Slater claimed.

Her speech in Malawi was attended by the country’s president, a former leader of the Pentecostal Assemblies of God movement.

After lobbying lawmakers in the southern African nation not to consider a bill that would have allowed abortion under certain circumstances, the U.S.-based Catholic group Human Life International told its supporters in March that “thanks to you, Malawi is safe from legal abortion.”

The African Union two decades ago recognized the right to abortion in cases of rape and incest or when the life of the mother or fetus is endangered or the mother’s mental or physical health is at risk.

A growing number of countries have relatively liberal abortion laws. Benin legalized abortion less than a year before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, though Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, allows abortion only to save the mother’s life.

African experts say events in the U.S. could reverse gains in the availability of safe abortion procedures, especially since the U.S. government is the largest global donor of international reproductive health assistance.

Such changes could deeply affect the lives of women of reproductive age in sub-Saharan Africa, where 77% of abortions, or more than 6 million a year, are estimated to be unsafe, the Guttmacher Institute, an international research and policy organization with headquarters in New York, said in 2020.

Unsafe abortions cause 16% of maternal deaths in the World Health Organization’s largely sub-Saharan Africa region, the U.N. agency said last year, “with variations across countries depending on the level of restrictions to abortion.”

Abortion opponents are especially outspoken in East Africa, where countries publicly wrestle with the issue of teen pregnancy but offer little sex education and access to legal abortions in limited circumstances.

A sexual and reproductive health bill introduced in 2021 is still under debate by the East African Community, whose member nations include Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Some Catholic and other conservative organizations have criticized a section that would allow a woman to terminate a pregnancy in cases of rape, incest or endangered health.

Earlier this year, the Protestant Council of Rwanda directed all health facilities run by its member institutions to stop performing abortions, although Rwandan law permits them in certain cases.

“We are having a very strong anti-rights narrative,” Brenda Otieno, research coordinator with the Kisumu Medical and Education Trust in Kenya, said during a Tuesday webinar about the global effects of the U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Abortion providers are often harassed, Otieno said, and a year ago, Kenya passed a national reproductive health policy that paid little attention to safe abortion care.

In Uganda, one rights watchdog said the issue of abortion access is taboo, with advocates facing discrimination, even as some women resort to self-mutilation.

“We’ve seen a number of people losing their lives,” said Twaibu Wamala, executive director of the Uganda Harm Reduction Network. Abortion is illegal in Uganda, although it can be legally carried out by a licensed medical worker who determines that a pregnancy threatens the mother’s life. But many doctors, fearing medical complications, only offer post-abortion care that may be too expensive or too late to save a woman’s life.

In Ethiopia, civil society workers have asked the government to investigate what they fear is a new trend: fewer public health facilities providing abortions and more women seeking care after unsafe abortions.

Groups that oppose abortion in Africa’s second most populous nation are mostly incited by outsiders and “consider the Supreme Court decision as fuel for them,” Abebe Sibru, the Ethiopia director for MSI Reproductive Choices, said.
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At least 51 people were killed Friday when a large truck veered off a major highway, plowed into other vehicles and then into pedestrians and traders at a market in western Kenya.  

Local police said Friday evening that 48 people died in the twisted jumble of cars, minibuses, motorbikes and other trucks in Londiani.  

On Saturday, the toll rose to 51. More people were believed to be trapped in the wreckage, Rift Valley police commander Tom Odera told The Associated Press, as heavy rain hindered rescue efforts. 

“My heart is crushed,” Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai posted on Facebook, 

The Kenyan Red Cross said 32 people are hospitalized and asked for blood donations. 

Kenyan President William Ruto posted on Twitter: “The country mourns with the families who have lost loved ones in a horrific road accident in Londiani.” 

The accident occurred at a place known for vehicle crashes in the Rift Valley. On Saturday, Transportation Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said the markets would be moved away from the highway to help prevent more deadly accidents. 

Some information for this report came from Reuters and AFP. 
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Sierra Leone’s main opposition party on Saturday demanded a re-run of last weekend’s presidential election after incumbent President Julius Maada Bio was declared the winner and swiftly sworn in for a second term in the West African nation. 

The opposition All People’s Congress party, or APC, accused Sierra Leone’s electoral commission of conspiring with Bio’s party to rig the results. In a statement, the party also called for the resignation of electoral commission chairman Mohamed Konneh and his entire team among others. 

“What culminated in the rogue announcement of fraudulent election results on June 25 was not just a naked theft of the votes of the suffering masses who needed change, it represents the biggest threat to our democracy, unity and survival as a nation,” it said. 

According to official results, Bio received 56.17% of the vote, enough to beat his man challenger Kamara while avoiding run-off. Electoral officials said Kamara had received 41.16% of ballots cast. 

Bio, who already was sworn into his second term several days after the vote, tweeted for “all Sierra Leoneans to be peaceful and law-abiding.” 

“This is a collective victory for every citizen, and we must come together now that elections are over for the pursuit of a common goal, which is the development of our dear country,” Bio tweeted. 

There have been concerns that Sierra Leoneans who dispute the election’s outcome could take to the streets. Already the West African nation has seen demonstrators protest the state of the economy in recent months. Nearly 60% of Sierra Leone’s population of more than 7 million are facing poverty, with youth unemployment being one of the highest in West Africa. 

The APC’s statement comes as pressure mounts on the electoral commission to open up its conduct of the tabulation process of the elections results. 

While regional observers like the African Union and ECOWAS declared the elections free and fair, other Western observers have stressed that the counting and tabulation process lacked transparency. The European Union, the UK, U.S. and France in particular have pressured the electoral commission to display results from each polling station. 
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NAIROBI, KENYA – At least 48 people were killed Friday when a truck apparently lost control and plowed into other vehicles and pedestrians at a busy junction in western Kenya, police said. 

Television images showed scenes of devastation at the crash site with the mangled wreckage of several minibuses and the overturned truck as rescue workers hunted for people feared trapped. 

“So far we can confirm 48 dead and we are suspecting one or two are still trapped under the truck,” local police commander Geoffrey Mayek told AFP after the accident on the highway between the towns of Kericho and Nakuru. 

He said another 30 people had been seriously injured and rushed to various hospitals. 

Tom Mboya Odero, the regional police commander for the Rift Valley, said the truck traveling toward Kericho “lost control and rammed into eight vehicles, several motorcycles, people who were by the roadside, vendors, and other people who were on other businesses.”  

Kenyan leaders including President William Ruto expressed their condolences after the accident, which took place about 6:30 p.m. (1530 GMT) at a busy area known as Londiani junction. 

Transport Minister Kipchumba Murkomen said on Twitter that the rescue efforts would be followed by an investigation to determine the cause of the crash. 

Collins Kipkoech, a senior doctor at Kericho County Hospital, said his facility’s morgue had so far received 45 bodies while more victims were taken to other hospitals “and the rescue is still ongoing.” 

The Kenyan Red Cross, which sent ambulances and rescue workers to the scene, said heavy rains were hindering rescue operations. 

“The truck was [traveling at] high speed. … It tried to avoid several vehicles before it came straight into the market,” said one witness, Maureen Jepkoech. 

“All I can say is that I am lucky to be alive because I saw what happened and I am alive because I ran. I am just lucky,” she added.  

“I have seen a very bad scene, bodies and blood all over. So many people are dead.” 

‘Happened in a flash’

Another witness, Joel Rotich, said, “The accident happened in a flash. Many of them had no time to escape. There was a lot of confusion because people were screaming all over and everyone was running after the accident.”

He added, “It took some time before people gathered courage and started helping those injured.”

According to figures from the National Transport and Safety Authority, at least 21,760 people were involved in road accidents last year in Kenya, including 4,690 who died.  

“My heart is crushed,” Kericho County Governor Erick Mutai wrote on Facebook, describing it as a “dark moment for the people of Kericho.” 

“My heart goes out to the families who have just lost their loved ones,” he said, adding that ambulances had been mobilized and all health facilities were on standby. 

Ruto, for his part, said the country was mourning with the families who had lost their loved ones. He urged motorists to be extra cautious on the roads, particularly when there was heavy rain. 

“It is distressing that some of the fatalities are young people with a promising future and businesspeople who were on their daily chores,” he said on Twitter. 
…